Maxim could hear the pain of Emin and Danil lance out in his own brain as the building went up in flames. And all he could think was again, I’ve failed Anton again.
He took a few running steps toward the collapsing building, determined to get in when he skidded to a stop. A large shadow was jogging out of the burning hangar.
Its fur matted and melted. Its eyes wild and angry.
Maxim rejoiced.
Anton.
Racing forward to greet him, he was shocked when Anton batted him aside, swatting him easily into a tree. Anton’s beast was singed and furious and a prisoner to his own rage.
It roared its great roar and lunged at Danil, who stood in front of AJ, and then at Emin, who tried to pry him off of Danil. Anton wasn’t their brother right now, that much was clear as he sunk his teeth into Danil’s haunch and tore.
Maxim roared as he righted himself, aghast, furious, and used all of his weight to rip Anton off of Danil. But the beast had already switched to Emin. Claw to claw, they ripped at one another and Emin howled as Anton batted his arm hard enough to break bone.
Maxim bared his teeth, rammed Anton aside. He went skidding, gripping at the ground for purchase and gnashing his teeth at the bears. He started forward again but AJ flung herself in between.
“Stop!” she screamed at the maniacal beast. “Anton! Stop!”
He did stop. But he didn’t calm down. He stomped his feet and roared, chomping his bloody teeth.
“No!” she yelled, raising her finger and pointing it like she would at a naughty toddler. And then when Anton took one aggressive step forward, she did too.
“No!” she screamed again, getting in his face. He took another step forward, and she’d had it. She knew what she had to do.
Gathering all her strength and gumption, AJ reared back and smacked the monster across its horrible face.
The smack barely ruffled the fur of the creature, but still, it let out a fierce little whine and sat back on its haunches.
“Lay. Down.” AJ ordered through clenched teeth.
The beast did as it was told. She stood over it for just a second, for good measure, gritting her teeth and glaring.
“Anton,” she said, finally falling to her knees. “Come back out. This is enough. It’s over. And I’m really tired and sick.” Without thinking, she reached out and traced her hand through the monster’s coarse fur. He let out another brief whine, pushing his head into her hand. “And I don’t know if anyone told you, but I was poisoned earlier today.”
The beast raised its head, rage chuffing out of it again.
“Enough, enough,” AJ flapped her hand. “No more of that, okay? I’m just saying that I have to get to the hospital and we can’t go if you’re still a rage monster or whatever this is.”
She leaned forward, looked deep in the monster’s eyes. “So come out, Anton. Come back. I need you. Right now.”
The beast shuddered, groaned, gritted its teeth against what seemed to be horrible pain. And then it was shrinking, its fur lightening. AJ watched in amazement as the beast shrank out of sight and into a bear. Anton’s bear. And the bear kept right on going. Until it was Anton lying there in front of her.
He was breathing hard and reaching for her, tears tracking down the dirt in his face. “Bahinia,” he murmured into her hair as he gathered her close.
“Motherfucker!” Danil shouted as he shifted and stood, looking down at his bloody leg. “Anton, you piece of shit!”
“Da,” Emin growled, holding his broken arm at an awkward angle. “I love you, Anton, but you are piece of shit.”
Maxim merely grunted, rubbing his bruised ribs from where he’d been tossed bodily into a tree.
Anton’s eyes lit with horror as he looked at his brothers. “Christos. I cannot control - I am so-”
“Save it,” Danil said, holding up one hand. “Whatever, you’re forgiven. I love you. Blah blah. Just drive us all to the fucking hospital.”
***
Anton bit down on the impulse to hate himself for what he did.
“I don’t hate the monster, so if you do, you’re just dragging us down,” AJ had told him before she had been wheeled away for examinations.
That had been four hours ago, and now she slept calmly, curled into his side on the hospital bed. The baby seemed to be okay. That was the news the doctor brought an hour ago.
“He’ll be fine,” AJ had whispered to Anton. “He’s half bear, after all.”
“He?” he’d whispered back, but she’d already been drifting off to sleep.
He’d been to see his brothers in their hospital rooms as well. Danil had been grumpy and tender; he’d needed 40 stitches. Emin had been philosophical about his pain, but was already regretting his choice to let Glory choose the color of his cast. Bright pink.
Maxim had had more damage than they’d originally thought. Broken ribs and a punctured lung. But he was also the most jovial of them all.
“That’s what you’ve been hiding this whole time?” he’d panted to Anton. “That little kitten? Come on. Show me something scary.”
Anton grinned, small, but true. His brothers had seen his beast. They’d fought it. And still, they loved him. And this woman, he gently snuggled into her. She’d walked right up to him, laid a hand on his face. She’d held him at bay without fear. And still she loved him.
“Anton?” AJ stirred and looked up at him.
“Da?”
“I want a big wedding. In your parents’ backyard. None of this elopement crap that your brothers did.”
They’d barely talked about getting married since the day they’d decided to. But the thought of it had him really smiling now.
“Do I wear suit?”
“Yes, and I wear a white dress.”
“White?” he raised an eyebrow and traced a hand over the tiny baby bump that had just started to pop.
“Well, off-white, then,” she conceded before she turned into him and drifted back into peaceful sleep.